Aid and Other Dirty Business: How Good Intentions Have Failed the World's Poor

(Paperback)

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Description

Do you know why Africa is so poor What really happens to your aid money Why trade rules fail African countries and yet cost you too We've heard it all before: the corrupt leaders, heartless global corporations, the wicked World Bank. But the answers are much closer to home...and so are the solutions When Giles Bolton began working in the world of aid and development, he travelled to Africa convinced that he could solve problems, save villages and sing songs with the locals under a shimmering sunset. The reality proved rather less romantic, and far more shocking...Aid and Other Dirty Business is a radical, brilliantly readable and totally original approach to an unending problem. It may change your life, but, more important, it will help you change the lives of others.

Reviews

Superbly lucid and readable * Guardian *
[A] heartening book on Africa and remedies for its plight ... Bolton doesn't rant or preach ... he balances hard facts with strong ideas * Independent *
If you've ever wondered why Africa is still poor, this is the book for you ... Bolton writes with energy and directness * Metro *
Engaging, absorbing and enlightening - everyone interested, from the aid worker to the armchair activist, should invest in this book. If Poor Story doesn't win your heart and mind to the cause of ending extreme poverty, nothing else will * Oxfam website *
A vivid account of the everyday problems facing African countries * Financial Times *

Author Bio

Born in London in 1973, Giles Bolton has been closely involved in Africa and its development for more than ten years as civil servant, diplomat and aid worker. From 1996 until 2004 he worked for the British Government's Department for International Development (DFID), in countries such as Kenya, Rwanda and Iraq. This is his first book.